Several aids for carrying children are available today, such as baby carrier harnesses for infants and child carrier harnesses which may also be used for somewhat older children. A baby carrier or child carrier is often used as an alternative to a pram or pushchair, especially in terrain not suited for a pram. Furthermore, a baby or child carrier, especially a child carrier, is not as bulky as prams and occupy less space during transport when not in use. Baby and child carriers help the child to sit upright in order to look around and in the child having close contact with the child attendant, and participates more actively in activities.
The problem with the existing baby and child carriers is that the child must be installed before the baby or child carrier may be used, for thereafter to be detached from both the child and the carrying person, when the baby carrier or child carrier is not to be used. With the present carrier, the child must either be seated or laid down in order to dismount or mount the carrier on the child or the harness must partly be mounted on the carrier before the child is entered into the harness and thereafter fastened more permanently, and the reverse procedure must be followed in order to take the child out of the carrier. In child carriers, the child must be seated into the carrier which is standing on the ground for example, then the child must be fastened with a safety harness, and finally the child carrier may be lifted carefully onto the back of the carrying person. In order to take the child out of the child carrier, the same procedure must be repeated in the reverse order. This is cumbersome and time consuming, especially as the child often wants to walk a little by itself, then be carried a short while, and then walk a little again, and so on. Today's baby carriers are also bulky; it is not possible for the child to move while wearing the carrier, as the object of these baby carriers is only that the child is comfortable while it is being carried.
There are also safety harnesses for children available on the market for preventing children from falling out of chairs or prams. These harnesses may be worn by the child more permanently, and they may be fastened to a pram or chair, or to a security strap which the child attendant may hold when the child walks by itself. These harnesses often have only abdominal and shoulder straps and only stops sideways and upward movement, to prevent the child from climbing out of the seat. These harnesses do not hinder the child in edging out beneath the harness. To prevent just this, some safety harnesses are equipped with a strap between the legs, but this is only for safety reasons and is not designed for lifting the child.
There exists therefore a need for a carrier harness which the child may permanently wear and which may be used both as a carrier, safety harness and walking rein alternately, without elaborate mounting and dismounting.